Rights and Relationships

Rights and Relationships 

1 Corinthians 9:1-7, 15-22 GNT      

A meditation delivered electronically by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, June 7, 2020

What an unusual, confusing, and unsettling week it has been in America!  So much has transpired since we brought you last week’s worship service.  I had a service and message almost finished for today (Suzanne, Matthew and I have to have everything finished before noon on Thursday). But then after witnessing what we all witnessed earlier this week, I felt compelled to put that aside and go in a different direction. 

What we witnessed happen in our nation’s capital Monday evening was nothing short of bizarre, surreal.  We couldn’t believe what our eyes were seeing. Democracy in America as we have known it appears to be teetering on the edge of disaster.  And the issues that plague America today are many and complex, and there is no way to adequately address just one of them, much less all of them.

But one word and concept that has been cropping up again and again in much of what has transpired in America in recent weeks is the word and the concept of “rights” – governmental, religious, political, and human rights.

First, governmental and religious rights have been in conflict.  First there was the issue of rights regarding governmental control over churches and whether or not the government has the right to keep churches from holding religious services during the COVID-19 crisis.  Some churches rebelled, citing their God-given right to hold services in defiance of governmental guidelines.  Then we heard the President claim the right to dictate to churches that they re-open their doors for services against the advice of some disease specialists.

Second, human rights have been violated.  A father and son, who appointed themselves as arresting officers, judge and jury, cornered on the street Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man out for a jog, and shot and killed him.  This was followed by the blatant murder of George Floyd, another unarmed black man, by white police officers who pressed his neck to the pavement, cutting off his air supply, until he died.

Third, the right of peaceful demonstration has been abused.  In response to the George Floyd murder, peaceful protests were planned, focusing on the rights of all people to be able to walk down the street without fear of police brutality.  At least 12 members of our United Church participated in the peaceful protest rally held this past Tuesday here in Oak Ridge.  But then as those with other not-so-pure agendas saw the peaceful protests as an opportunity for violence and destruction, violent riots broke out in cities all across our nation, destroying property and taking the lives of the innocent.  And so, the rights of innocent business owners who lost their businesses have been trampled upon.

Fourth, executive rights of the presidency have been called into question, as the President claimed the right to use the military against America’s own peaceful protestors (a constitutional right), as tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at peaceful demonstrators so he could walk across the street to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op holding up the Bible.

Rights – religious rights, governmental rights, human rights, the President’s rights – they have been at the center of all that has been happening.

The Apostle Paul felt the need to address the issue of his “rights” as an apostle of Jesus with the Church at Corinth.  Evidently there had been some dissension and questioning of Paul’s authority and rights.  So Paul felt it necessary to defend his rights – his right to marry and take along a wife on his missionary journeys if he so chose, his right to receive financial support so as to make it possible for him to travel and preach and establish new churches, his right to live out his religious convictions as he saw fit, and so on.

But, Paul explains, he gave up his “rights” for the sake of relationships; for the sake of fostering relationships with those from all walks of life.  He gave up his rights so as to forge relationships with the Gentles.  He gave up his rights so as to strengthen his relationship with the Jews. He gave up his rights when seeking to relate to the weak.  In other words, Paul understood that relationships and being considerate of others and their rights is more important than asserting our own. 

Just because I think I have the right to do something, it is not expedient that I do so.  I may have the right to yell “Fire!” in the Oak Ridge Playhouse (if we ever get to go there again), but my doing so would not be acting out of love and for the common good.

I may have the right to come to church knowing I have been exposed to COVID-19 (I haven’t as far as I know, by the way), but my doing so would not be acting out of love and for the common good.

I may have the right to shout obscene, racist insults (I never would, by the way), but doing so would not be acting out of love and for the common good.

I may have the right to use religion for selfish gain or selfish ends (I haven’t, as far as I know), but to do so would not be acting out of love and for the common good.

Because, as Paul understood, the important thing is relationship.  Sometimes, if not all the time, being in relationship and considering the rights and well-being of others is more important than my being right and insisting upon my rights.

Consequently, I cannot misuse my rights to cause pain, suffering, injury, injustice, or emotional hurt to another.

Police officers cannot misuse their right to keep law and order and to arrest to violate the rights of innocent citizens, especially citizens of color.

Religious leaders and religious institutions cannot abuse their rights if that means not acting in the common good and putting people in danger.

Government officials – including the President – cannot overstep their rights to violate the rights of minorities and the innocent and to dismantle democracy, desecrate the Bible, or trample upon the US Constitution.

The sad truth is, the human rights of people of color – black, brown, Native Americans, and others – have been grossly violated and tromped on time again for 400 years, and that is just wrong.  And often such wrongs have been inflicted by those who felt they were exercising their own rights. And it is time for a drastic change in America.   

But, you see, in the final analysis, if we claim to be Christian (but the general principle should apply to a person of any faith), as Paul points out, we are “under Christ’s law,” which means the law of love, compassion, and mercy.  And such have been absent in much of what has transpired of late.

So, if we are going to talk about rights and the exercising of rights, we begin at the starting gate of love, compassion, and mercy. Not power, not show of force, not superior and inferior, but relationship that takes into consideration the rights of all others is what will help heal a nation divided.  May it be so.  Amen.